i wish daddy sharp was real

Elaine

Letter 1

Dear Professor Sharp,

You told me to write to you. Well, I will write, but I probably won't be able to muster the courage to send the letters. Because no matter what words I choose, they will either reveal too much about me or fail to adequately express what I actually want to say to you.

Today I set off for Wales because I have heard rumours of Graphorn sightings there, which I intend to investigate. I will probably leave the country in the next few days. The real reason for my trip is actually different, which I didn't have the heart to tell you about when we last met: I have decided to search for the cure that you have been trying to find for so long. Not because I want to change you, but because I sensed how important it is to you.

I hope you are well.

Yours sincerely,

Elaine Hopkins

Letter 2

Dear Professor Sharp,

There are always setbacks. Every time I think I've found something, when a new idea crosses my mind, I eventually reach a point where I can't proceed any further.

Recently, I was attacked by poachers. I encountered them by chance. There were rumours of a large creature in a canyon, and I thought it might be a graphorn. There was no time to get support, and I was alone.

I had the situation under control and freed the creatures, but one of them managed to hide and attack me with a knife. I thought this was the end of my journey. The last thing I remember is something knocking him off his feet. I lost consciousness, but I woke up again because rain was hitting my face. Then I saw it. A thunderbird. I caught some of the rainwater. It saved me. I hope that this might be the key to your cure as well.

I will return soon and have decided to begin training as an Auror after my journey. I know you advised me against it, but I've never been able to sit idly by and watch. Not when I know there are still dark wizards out there. I wonder what you think about it. Would you disapprove, or might you understand? I think I could live with either, if it meant you would be there to tell me.

Yours sincerely

Elaine Hopkins

Letter 3

Dear Professor Sharp,

The training is challenging, but I feel I'm doing the right thing. Nevertheless, I often disagree with the Ministry, especially when it comes to the treatment and legislation of magical creatures.

I haven't given up the search. At the moment, I'm working on what I've gathered on my travels and trying to find a pattern in all the information. Sometimes I sit hunched over a cauldron and when the binding of the individual components is too unstable, I imagine you were there. I wonder what you would say, I imagine your voice. These thoughts are loudest at night, and I would be lying if I said that I am sleeping well at the moment.

I hope your nights are more restful than mine. Or at least quieter.

Kind regards

Elaine Hopkins

Letter 4

Professor Sharp,

I don't have much time today, but I feel the need to write to you. I'm on duty. I'm currently on standby, but I'll be relieving my colleagues in a few minutes. We're watching a train station.

What I hate most are the interrogations. When I see the despair in the eyes of those who don't speak, sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of intent. They haunt me in my sleep. I know it sounds pathetic, but in moments like these I often think of you.

When we last saw each other, I tried to memorise your face so I could take the image with me. The expression of our eyes also stayed with me. They always revealed more than you intended.

Please take care.

Elaine Hopkins

Letter 5

Dear Professor Sharp... Aesop,

I know I'm not allowed to call you that, but this letter will probably never reach you, like the others, so I might as well write down what has long been on my mind.

I have completed my training. Now I am an Auror. They say I am one of the best in my year. I don't know if I can believe that. There were many people there when the results were announced. I know it's naive, but for a brief moment I looked for your face. It was missing.

Sometimes I catch myself wondering whether you would be proud of me or whether you would reprimand me. I know you don't think much of success stories unless they are tempered by humility. I will try to keep that in mind.

I hope you are eating. I hope you are sleeping. I don't know why I am writing this.

Warm regards

Elaine

Letter 6

Aesop,

I met someone at work. His name is Nathanael... Nate. He was assigned to me as a partner at the Ministry, but now he's... more than that. We complement each other, we look out for each other on the job. He treats me well.

I... don't know why I'm telling you this and why it's so difficult for me. Please excuse the smudged ink. Please don't think badly of me.

With best wishes

Elaine

Letter 7

Dear Aesop,

There's no progress with the cure. Whenever I think I'm making progress, I take two steps back. Maybe it was naive of me to look for it. Maybe the search just helped me cling to the hope that one day I would return. Maybe it was my way of avoiding letting you go. Because I need a reason for everything I do that doesn't make me vulnerable or open to attack.

I regret never coming back, and the more time passes, the more difficult it becomes. I don't even know if you remember me at all, while my thoughts of you have become more vivid over the years. I don't know if I even have the right to just show up again after so much time – without a cure, without justification. However, I want you to know one thing: I miss you. I miss your way of thinking; your way of always packaging your concern in such a way that it could also pass as a warning; your honesty; your sincerity and that quiet melancholy in your eyes.

I would like to make it clear once again that I never went on those journeys to find something to correct you. I never thought there was anything wrong with you. To me, you were always right. And maybe one day I'll find the courage to tell you that in person.

Until then, I hope you take care of yourself.

With warm regards

Elaine

Letter 8

Dear Aesop,

Today I am writing from St Mungo's. Nate is dead. I'm injured. My shoulder. It hurts. Not just my body, but also the things going through my mind. Things I didn't say, but which are true nonetheless. I was there. In Scarborough. I know I should have listened to you, not become an Auror, as you said.

I don't know where to go. I can't eat. I can't sleep. At night, I keep seeing his empty eyes.

I don't know how to go on. I don't know if I can come back. If you even think about me anymore. I only know one thing: that I love you. And that I should have told you sooner. Now I don't know if I can.

This letter will not reach you.

Elaine

Aesop

Letter 1

Dear Miss Hopkins,

Every year, students come and go, and I thought that by now it had become routine for me not to pay too much attention to it. The castle is lively in these first weeks after the summer holidays. Nevertheless, I can't shake the feeling that something is quieter than usual.

You said you were going on a journey. I don't know where you're headed, but I hope you have allies on your side. You've always tended to carry too much on your own. Perhaps I should have talked to you about it, but I don't want to bother you with my sentimentality.

Take care of yourself.

Kind regards

Professor A. Sharp

Letter 2

Dear Miss Hopkins,

For some inexplicable reason, I remember today how you once appeared in the Great Hall with your face covered in blood, looking for Professor Fig. I never asked you what exactly happened in your first year here, but I suspect it was more than I saw at the time. And I regret not being more attentive.

I only know rumours and reports, even though you sat in my class almost every week. You showed a lot of courage, everyone saw that, but did anyone ever ask you about the price?

Today, the first affodill bloomed, and I replenished my supplies for the coming school year.

Kind regards

Professor A. Sharp

Letter 3

Dear Miss Hopkins,

It has now been three years since you left. I don't know where you are or what you're doing, and strictly speaking it's none of my business, but I hope you've found a way to put the past behind you, even though I'm part of it. I've gotten into the habit of not waiting for a letter anymore, and yet every morning I catch myself paying attention when the owls cross the Great Hall.

I'm not good at grand statements, so I'll write a few small ones: I appreciate that you hear what is left unsaid, I appreciate your attentiveness, your sharp mind, your way of always seeing the good in people, even though you yourself have probably experienced the opposite often enough.

Stay well.

Yours sincerely

A. Sharp

Letter 4

Miss Hopkins,

Today is the anniversary of my partner's death. It's been so many years, and yet every year it comes back like a bad habit.

I don't know why I'm telling you this. Perhaps because you were the only student who ever asked me about the events in Scarborough. Everyone else was content to spread rumours, but that was never enough for you, was it? You always wanted to understand, to find out the truth, why things are the way they are. Why people are the way they are.

I miss your questions in my lessons. You made me question things I had been convinced of for years. It was exhausting and sometimes painful, but it was always worth it.

Thank you.

A. Sharp

Letter 5

Miss Hopkins,

Today is the day you left back then. There are things I should have told you when you were still here, and I regret that I didn't. At the same time, I don't have the courage to send you these letters.

I hope that you have now found what you were looking for. That you have a place somewhere where you can stay, a home for you. If not... rest assured that there are people who wish exactly that for you.

You were more than just a name on a class list.

A. Sharp

Letter 6

Elaine,

I have tried to forget you, but the more I try, the more often I find you in my thoughts. I've tried to avoid places I associate with you, but I still find myself visiting them. Sometimes without even realising it.

People say I'm strict. That's true. But often it's just my way of avoiding emotions. Today it's not working. Sometimes, when the classroom is empty, I still see you standing in your place. When I remember that you will never stand there again, a strange silence descends upon me. I suppose I will have to live with that now.

Yours, A. Sharp

Letter 7

Dear Elaine,

You will probably never read this letter, just like the others, but there is still something I need to tell you. I know it's not right, but there's something I've known for years but never dared to admit. I told myself I was too old, too hurt, too strict, too much of a burden to be more than a memory to you, and – I love you. I'm not writing this to pressure you, but because it's true.

I don't know if you ever felt the same way, and I'll probably never know, but I'll continue to live in hope, just to make it more bearable.

If you're still out there somewhere, I hope there's someone who holds you when you despair, someone who gives you the security you deserve. That you're happy. That's all I ever wanted.

I should have told you sooner, but we both know that was impossible. That we were impossible. Not meant to be. I only ask one thing of you: be alive. And when you can, come back, even if it's just for a moment.